By GREGORY ZELLER //
One of Long Island’s most respected thought leaders gets a little familiar in his new memoir, sharing a personal journey filled with universal life lessons.
Jeffrey Reynolds – you know the name – tells all in “Every Mile Matters: Turning Triathlon Training into Cancer Triumph (Causation 2025),” an autobiography following the president and CEO of the Garden City-based Family and Children’s Association from the finish line at an IRONMAN triathlon competition to the edge of human survival.
It was shortly after completing a 2021 IRONMAN event in Florida – a 140.6-mile physical-endurance odyssey combining a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.2-mile run – when Reynolds, 55 at the time, received the first of two devastating diagnoses.
A routine prostate-specific antigen blood test revealed prostate cancer. Soon thereafter, another shocking diagnosis surfaced during a colonoscopy: Stage 3B colorectal cancer, a potentially deadly disease requiring immediate, aggressive treatment.
Jeffrey Reynolds: He is IRONMAN.
“I went from being at the peak of physical fitness to facing my own mortality,” recalled Reynolds, who took the FCA’s reins in 2014 after serving five years as executive director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence and nearly 20 years in various positions at the Long Island Association for AIDS Care, including policy director and vice president for public affairs.
Fortunately for Reynolds, while safeguarding some of society’s most vulnerable members through those vital social-service rolls, the graduate of the Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare (PhD, 2007) and quasi-Baby Boomer was also a full-on swole gym bro.
Reynolds said he realized quickly that his triathlon training was a secret weapon in this unprovoked fight – not only was his body strong, but the same grit, determination and focus that had pushed him through endless IRONMAN workouts would push him through this.
No spoilers, but the epic fight to come would involve long months of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments – all chronicled in “Every Mile Matters,” in which Reynolds treats cancer like any other physical-endurance challenge.
He also shares copious “training tips” for building comprehensive physical, mental, emotional and spiritual fitness – and takes a fearless dive into the inequalities of American healthcare, ranging from the excellent care Reynolds received to the devastating shortfalls he’s witnessed firsthand, savaging U.S. populations based on race, education, income and geography.
Chapter and verse: Reynolds exposes healthcare sins — and shares a healthy respect for positive thinking.
It’s all very personal – deeper than his TedX talk, more introspective than the excellent perspectives and tips Reynolds dispenses in his well-read Voices column – and yet completely relatable, according to the author, who firmly believes that an endurance-sport physicality (and mentality) can generate life-saving resilience.
“I quickly realized that triathlon had been preparing me for this race I never signed up for,” Reynolds said.
With the memoir set to officially drop on Aug. 8 (you can already find it on Amazon), he’s not the only one applauding its strong body/strong mind mien.
“‘Every Mile Matters’ is a triumph of heart and soul in battling the demons of cancer,” renowned race announcer Mike Reilly, the unmistakable “Voice of IRONMAN,” said in a statement. “Jeffrey Reynolds has captured each defining moment of his cancer journey with honesty, passion and remarkable clarity.
“Through his story, he teaches us powerful life lessons – and more importantly, how to live them daily.”
